A year in the making!

If you've been following our Facebook and Instagram stories you'll be well in the know that we have just opened our first semi-permanent shop at South Melbourne Market, Victoria! This is a big step for this little label but it's been incredible how a little heat really gets things going! I've taken a few time lapses and some video footage to put together a special vlog post but I'm yet to find the time to practice some editing! If you want a peek of the shop check out a make-shift video we did here.

What I wanted to cover in this post is how Theo has really found it's feet in the last year. It's been a little over a year since we rebranded from our original name Jacob & Esau into Theo the Label and I'm not gonna lie, it's had it's ups and downs! If you missed our origin story (not quite the drama of Wolverine but close) you can read up on it here and here in a few of our first blogs. In a lot of ways, I feel like I've been going around in circles with what I want Theo the business to look like and I think it's important to share some of challenges I've come across.

The first challenge was that I wanted Theo to look like a professional business and stand on it's own two feet. I wanted people to see a brand and a business, rather than a hobby or a make-shift label and in a few ways I succeeded and in many others I failed! Because I wanted it to look professional and didn't want it to be about me personally, I didn't post anything about myself. This proved to be a real struggle because Theo is very much an extension of my own personal values and way of life and having to edit that and be careful with what I posted through Theo just got really confusing! Many times I felt like I wasn't being authentic and my business reflected my confusion. I'm quite a reserved person so posting selfies or videos does not come naturally to me and with the rise of social media and influence, it's been a big challenge for me to be open and share regularly. I've bitten the bullet for the sake of my passion and I'm learning that people appreciate honestly and seeing a 'real' person behind the business, so thank you guys for being accepting of me!

A big link to that challenge was that I compared myself to many other labels and businesses. I love learning from and observing others and improving myself, so while this can be a good trait at times, it was definitely not a good thing in this instance! I found myself really doubting my own business model because I would see other brands making significant global impacts through their businesses or using only organic materials while I really struggled to source organics for myself. While these are good processes to aim toward and improve on, it played into my perfectionist attitude that highlighted imperfection in everything I was doing and made me lose my own vision and direction for Theo. I felt really overwhelmed because all of a sudden everything I was doing wasn't good enough, especially when you label your business an 'ethical' one! I haven't posted a blog since December last year because the 'perfect' post was never written with the 'perfect' timing to post it with the 'perfect' marketing plan! (Yes, this is the type of craziness that runs through my brain.) So slowly but surely, I have learnt to focus on my own vision, to get things done no matter how imperfectly and to just keep taking small steps to expand our impact.

The last big challenge (I'll spare you the little ones haha!) was that I'm not a big fan of marketing full stop. I feel like traditional marketing has a nasty way of targeting people's insecurities and tricking them into thinking they really must have something, when really it's not the case! I consider clothing to be a luxury and so I don't believe you must have this jumper or must have this dress to be complete and as a result, I just stayed away from marketing in general. Of course, this is suicide for any brand and I would't recommend it! What I have learnt is that I can promote my business in an ethical way, presenting my products to people that are genuinely searching for an ethical fashion alternative. I want people to really value their Theo pieces, take care of them and keep them for many seasons to come, and sometimes that means promoting a non-consumerist culture more than making a sale for the sake of the planet and for humanity! We don't need to purchase clothing every week, but if someone did want or need (to a certain extent!) to purchase something we would be an option for them now and in future.

So those are the biggest challenges I've encountered over the past year and I'm so glad to say I'm learning how to tackle them each and every day. Running a business can stretch you way beyond your comfort zone, so luckily for me I love that! The next blog post will cover Theo the Label in all it's sweatshop-free glory, going into depth about what we do as a business and how we hope to impact the fashion world. If you aren't already, jump on our mailing list here and you'll receive $10 off your first online order. I tend to post little snippets of my day on Facebook and Instagram so you can follow along there also!

Until next time,